SEX 2.0 C4S Upgrade

[John EH]

Wow!

I'm probably a couple years behind the power curve but I built a SEX amp a few years back.  Haven't fiddled with my stereos for a LONG time but have a renewed interest ever since I built up a couple of Raspberry Pi Squeezeboxes with a HiFiMeDIY Sabre USB DAC.

Decided to take the SEX amp to work with a Raspberry Pi system and figured, what the heck?  Why not go ahead and do the C4S upgrade.

Upgrade was straight forward and took about 2-3 hours.  Worked first time right out of the chute.  Very easy even though the manual had a couple mistakes in it.  I clued in on it right away and sure enough found the errata here on this site.  It may have been on the CD supplied with the kit, I don't know I just grabbed the manual file and threw it on my laptop.  If there was something else there I overlooked it.  No harm, no foul.

Anyway I'm only about an hour into the run and it's awesome with a capital A.  I had listened to the SEX amp about a week ago for a couple days while I made things right with my Extended Foreplay 3.

I'm used to listening to my Paramours and Foreplay 2 and don't ask me why but I like the Foreplay 2 with the Paramours better than the Foreplay 3.

The SEX Amp doesn't get as loud as the Paramours but it gets plenty loud enough.  I have it connected to the SEXy speakers I built as per the Bottlehead site.  Also have that 10K gain box as well.

My source is Raspberry Pi and above mentioned DAC.  Listening to Diana Krall streaming on MOG and it's as smooth as the Paramours and full of detail.  I'll do a little tube rolling this weekend as I recall I have a few different brands of 6DN7.

As always Bottlehead is QUALITY gear that rivals and surpasses big buck gear in the big buck stores.

I can't believe what I'm hearing .  This kicks ass.  And I had forgotten what a cool hobby it was building and tweaking gear.  Off to the Products page I guess.

Thanks Doc and Eileen.

John

[John EH]

A couple of more comments about the C4S kit.  In the manual it says to bend the LED leads backwards to expose the silver stripe to basically ensure it isn't installed backwards.

It looks SOOOOO much prettier if you install the LED's in the proper orientation. 

And one other comment.  The hook up wire that ships with the kit is really brittle.  You get one good bend in one direction and then you're done.  I generally hook my wire around the terminal posts and put the tiniest drop of solder on them.  Real clean and real nice.  I found that I'd make that bend on the wire then solder it in and then when I'd move the wire later to attach it to something it would break.  I had a couple wires break on me and had one snap off when I pushed everything down to mount the board on the stand off.

And boy, oh boy I just have to say again the sound of the SEX amp is amazing.  It's on par with my Paramours now and I LOVE those Paramours more than almost anything I have ever heard.

John

[Doc B.]

A couple of more comments about the C4S kit.  In the manual it says to bend the LED leads backwards to expose the silver stripe to basically ensure it isn't installed backwards.

It looks SOOOOO much prettier if you install the LED's in the proper orientation. 

And one other comment.  The hook up wire that ships with the kit is really brittle.  You get one good bend in one direction and then you're done.  I generally hook my wire around the terminal posts and put the tiniest drop of solder on them.  Real clean and real nice.  I found that I'd make that bend on the wire then solder it in and then when I'd move the wire later to attach it to something it would break.  I had a couple wires break on me and had one snap off when I pushed everything down to mount the board on the stand off.

John

Thanks for the kind words John. Hopefully users are leaving the LEDs on the underside where they aren't seen anyway. We had SOOO many customer install them backwards that we made the change to improve the success rate on completions.

If your wire is breaking it's not because it is brittle. It will only get brittle if work hardened by bending it a bunch. It's most likely that the wire is getting nicked when it is stripped and that causes a fracture. Adjusting the strippers to go a bit less deep will help.

[John EH]

Thanks.  Did a little tube rolling today and found some 6DN7's that appear to have black plates. Didn't even know I had them.  Found a great big bag of them and I'm guessing I never opened most of them. 

This thing REALLY sounds good.  During the initial construction some years ago I added a stereo DACT and Auricaps.

I always thought the SEX amp was a step down in sound from the Paramour but I'm thinking now it isn't.  Will find the box with my Cans later and listen on the phones. 

John

[Jim R.]

John,

Also, sometime soon BH will probably be selling the output transformers and plate chokes from the new s.e.x. 2.1 -- these are in-house designed by PJ and they are very nice transformers that could take your amp even further up the ladder.  I'm planning on upgrading my 2.0 kit as soon as these are out and I can scrape up the cash.  The specos were great for the money, but the new ones are in a whole other league.

-- Jim

[John EH]

John,

Also, sometime soon BH will probably be selling the output transformers and plate chokes from the new s.e.x. 2.1 -- these are in-house designed by PJ and they are very nice transformers that could take your amp even further up the ladder.  I'm planning on upgrading my 2.0 kit as soon as these are out and I can scrape up the cash.  The specos were great for the money, but the new ones are in a whole other league.

-- Jim

Thanks Jim.  I'll be looking out for that.

John